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Works for me, but try before you buy! Read into it before commiting to it

The Dukan Diet is a relatively new diet to the UK, having been used in France for a number of years. The Dukan diet has four phases that you follow to help you to lose weight quite quickly whilst still eating a healthy amount of food. I will go through the phases of the diet so you can see what is entailed.

Phase 1-Attack

This phase boasts the largest amount of weight loss in the shortest space of time. Basically you are allowed to eat proteins- fish, meat, eggs and zero fat dairy products. You also have to walk for twenty minutes each day and you are supposed to follow this phase for a maximum of 10 days depending on how much weight you want to lose. I have found this phase fairly difficult due to completely cutting out carbohydrates- you do need quite strong will power. Making meals is quite easy although thinking of substitutes for pasta and rice can be difficult. I found using a lot of spices and dairy products to add flavour to meat dishes helped to keep this part of the diet feeling varied and not dull. It is quite hard to fight the cravings for all the foods you don't eat though! You are meant to have oatbran everyday which means you can make this into pancakes and bread- this helps to replace the carbs you are missing! Although I found this phase difficult I did lose a fair amount of weight on it- drank loads of water too which seemed to help keep me feeling full.

Phase 2: Cruise

This phase is the one I am currently doing, and involves alternating days where you have just protein with days where you can add vegetables to your diet. I have been doing five day rotations to break it up a bit! Its amazing how much you realise that you miss vegetables when you start eating them again! Adding vegetables makes the diet feel more manageable and again brings a new level of variety to what you eat. I am finding it easier in this phase to combine and come up with new meals because there is more to choose from. Also it makes the protein only days easier because you know its only for a few days and then you get to eat other things again! You are supposed to follow this pattern until you get to the weight you want to be. So this may mean I follow it for a while!

I have lost weight every week from following this diet so far and although it is hard to readjust your diet initially I think in the long run it has some benefits. I am well on my way to the weight I want to be and am looking forward to the next diet phase! I cannot really review the other phases yet but they are called consolidation and stabilisation. Consolidation is where you reintroduce the foods you haven't had yet slowly as this will apparently help you not to regain the weight you lost. Stabilisation is the last part and you eat normally apart from one day a week where you eat only protein.

This diet is not for the faint hearted as it requires a strong will initially to retrain your eating habits. Having just had a baby I am pleased that this diet is kick starting my weight loss well. I think it is worth looking into before starting as it is certainly not for everyone, but give it a go if you feel its for you and if you stick to it properly you should see some results. I have friends doing this diet and they are all losing weight too so there must be something to it! I will update the review when I get to the other phases- if you try this diet then good luck!